Posted
by
Soulskill
on Tuesday February 12, 2013 @11:18PM
from the watching-you-watching-tv dept.

New submitter kdryer39 writes "In an unexpected but kind-of-makes-sense move, chip-maker Intel has decided to delve into the TV world by creating a set-top box and a paid Internet television service. The box will contain an HD camera and microphone for various 'novel applications.' Intel expects to provide various live and on-demand content, as well as re-inventing the wheel by changing the way people search for content. How will they do this, and where will they get the content from? Unfortunately, we don't know...and apparently neither does Intel. Erik Hugger, head of the newly-created Intel Media group, has stated that negotiations with content providers are in process, but gave no specific details. Is this an effort for the company to re-invent itself? Perhaps, but either way, it'll be one of those things that will be interesting to follow as it develops."
The "novel applications" for the on-board camera include identifying who's watching the TV and providing programming it thinks they'll like. At one point, Huggers said, "There's a scenario where the TV recognizes that it's you and says 'Hey, I know what you like. I know what you want to watch', versus the environment we're in today where the TV literally is not interested in you at all.' Maybe I'm getting old, but I like that my appliances aren't particularly interested in me. (Haven't they seen Maximum Overdrive?!)

I know i wont buy one i don't want my TV spying on me. I know what i want to watch and when i don't , I enjoy flicking through the channels. I don't need yet another advertiser spying on what i do and try to tell me its for my own good. Nope not happening

Intel is kind of a no compromise company. They want the power..and the margins. Look at the rest of their businesses:
They own a huge chunk of the margins on PCs and servers, and basically dictate to OEMs what their products will be.
They kicked Nvidia out of the chipset/motherboard market because, y'know, can't have that.
They wouldn't budge on prices for chips in the original Xbox, which doomed it to failure and havn't sniffed the console market since.
They're in and out of mobile, mostly because they can't line up any partners.

And now they're going to play nice with the content/distribution cartels? The path to their door it littered with the corpses of start-ups and wunderkinds that only needed the Ace of Content for the staight flush.